Feeling discouraged

Sheets76

I was wondering if people have felt really down and discouraged with their results and how they keep motivated ? I feel like quitting because it just seems too hard! I have been exercising and eating under or just at my calorie intake each day and yet - week after week I see no result - the scale won't budge below the 80kg (177lb) mark. I'm still obese based on BMI so I don't understand why it's so difficult to lose weight. It's making me feel disheartened and got me really down...anyone who has been through this and pushed past to see positive results please tell us how you kept going?

malibu927

Are you accurately weighing and logging everything you eat? What percentage of your exercise calories are you eating, and how do you determine what you burned? If you aren't losing, there are discrepancies you need to take care of, as you're most likely eating more than you think. Opening your food diary will help people on the board with what you can do.

Someone the other day said this...Weightloss is hard. Being overweight is hard. You have to choose the hard you want.

LoadedM6Tina

I had lost 40 pounds with MFP. Then I met my boyfriend and gained back 20. In December I decided that we weren't doing enough and I tried to motivate him but he wasn't budging so I started on my own. Unfortunately, we broke up just after New Years. It's been a very tough break up but I started a new eating plan and have lost 10+ of the 20 I gained back. I do minimal exercise right now (when I do, it's yoga or snowboarding-about 2.5 hours of actual boarding). I'm trying to get my eating right first. I didn't have to give up much as far as treats because I rarely if ever drink sweetened drinks like soda or -ade drinks. And I'm not a big junk food junky person. I simply don't buy it. My son is almost 6' and weighs about 134 but he's ALWAYS been thin (like his father) and eats whatever he wants. I buy him what he wants to eat. He's 18 so he makes his own food and I make mine. I do weigh myself everyday because I want to catch myself if I gain some. I know I will plateau at some point and the scale won't budge. At that point it's time to reassess and add exercise or refine my eating. I don't have anything really that I snack on except nuts and an occasional no sugar fudgcicle. If my son doesn't eat them all. What do you normally eat?

Yodee

Also could there be a medical reason behind the lack of weight loss?

Bigbluefrog

Sheets76 wrote: »

I was wondering if people have felt really down and discouraged with their results and how they keep motivated ? I feel like quitting because it just seems too hard! I have been exercising and eating under or just at my calorie intake each day and yet - week after week I see no result - the scale won't budge below the 80kg (177lb) mark. I'm still obese based on BMI so I don't understand why it's so difficult to lose weight. It's making me feel disheartened and got me really down...anyone who has been through this and pushed past to see positive results please tell us how you kept going?

Do you have a under active thyroid?
Ask your doctor if you can have it checked.
Woman tend to carry more stress, and stress creates cortisol hormone and it makes you retain fat cells.

I would continue to journal.
See your doctor to make sure its not your thyroid.
Try to eliminate stress by yoga and deep breathing

Rules for woman always eat breakfast! Protein protein protein
zinc- for woman!!!
vitamin B and D
lean cuts of chicken or fish
and lots of green veggies
limit starchy veggies like potatoes and corn!


Good luck!!!

My_Butt

I workout 2 hours a day/6 days a week, and eat 1330 calories daily. My scale is now telling me I gained 2lbs, but the mirror and measuring tape are showing the abs and the loss of inches. I weigh about 153lbs. My BMI is coming out to tell me I'm in the high side of healthy.

softblondechick

Well, if you are not losing, at least you are more aware of your food, and you are not gaining. That, in and of itself is a win.

debubbie

It can be frustrating! I went through a period several months ago where I basically quit, I tried not to gorge on food and didn't really exercise. Somehow I maintained my weight. I realized that for me, I needed to switch my goals from focusing too much on pounds lost and looking at how my clothes fit me, inches lost, improved fitness and reaching fitness goals. That has been a better motivator for me and helps to keep me sane!

Malibu gave you some sound advice that you may want to check to see if those ideas are helpful to you. A few things that she mentioned were part of my problem when I had been on here for a little while and wasn't losing weight, once I remedied those problems the weight started coming off again.

Sheets76

Do you have a under active thyroid?
Ask your doctor if you can have it checked.
Woman tend to carry more stress, and stress creates cortisol hormone and it makes you retain fat cells.

I would continue to journal.
See your doctor to make sure its not your thyroid.
Try to eliminate stress by yoga and deep breathing

Rules for woman always eat breakfast! Protein protein protein
zinc- for woman!!!
vitamin B and D
lean cuts of chicken or fish
and lots of green veggies
limit starchy veggies like potatoes and corn!


Good luck!!! [/quote]

Thanks - yes I do have under active thyroid but because i am on medication I just dismissed it - maybe it's time to get retested and see if the meds are working.

Sheets76

malibu927 wrote: »

Are you accurately weighing and logging everything you eat? What percentage of your exercise calories are you eating, and how do you determine what you burned? If you aren't losing, there are discrepancies you need to take care of, as you're most likely eating more than you think. Opening your food diary will help people on the board with what you can do.

Someone the other day said this...Weightloss is hard. Being overweight is hard. You have to choose the hard you want.

Thanks Malibu
I normally use mfp to calculate and have been eating most of my exercise calories. Maybe due to my thyroid been under active it's time to stop doing so and start cutting more calories out of my diet.

I'm going to go man-made carb free this week and see if it helps budge the scales!

kellycasey5

I can 100% relate...I have been bouncing from 175.5 to 179 and about every range in between for 3 weeks. It's the 177 curse BUT (and its a big one) I have lost 3 inches and am getting strong. I can do some things I couldn't before (crunches for a whole minute no stops, girly push-ups, 45 minutes incline treadmill no breaks).

My weightloss was great at first, then basically stopped when I started propanolol (jam 31). My resting heartrate decreased to high 40's low 50's. I logged and counted and exercised and...some meds cause changes in metabolism. My average was 1330 calories in per day, and I didn't eat back exercise calories. At 178 pounds that calorie amount should cause loss, but didn't.

Your thyroid or thyroid prep could be a large part of the stall. Some here will get all freaked that I suggest such a thing and will say you are eating too much, not logging, etc. That may be the case, but medical conditions change everything. I gained 15 pounds on elavil, another 15 with decadron/ medrol/ prednisone, and another 15 on depakote. I went from 135 to 183 with meds and bedrest.

So, my point is, we all have different challenges and experiences. You might try progress photos and measurements. One of my friends has lost almost no weight but dropped 8 inches.....frustrating yes but smaller and stronger beats lighter all day everyday! Good luck and stick with it....healthy lifestyle is about way more than weight!

And, if you want a friend stuck in the 176-179 range, I'm your girl

jessietrumble

I'm going to go man-made carb free this week and see if it helps budge the scales! That is exactly what I was going to recommend cut as many refined carbs out as possible just to see if it gives your body a jump start. Don't focus on hovering around a specific weight for a while....your body needs to catch up and re-energize. I know it's one of the toughest things to do... work so hard and see no results. Just keep trying.

sodakat

Don't STOP! You know stopping means weight gain.

Instead, take a good look at your food logging. Are you positive you are eating at a deficit. Being just a couple hundred calories off a day can mean it takes 10 or 11 days to lose a pound, instead of a week.

I was "stuck" in the 177 range for a while, then at 172, but am now seeing 169 on the scale most days. It's just how the weight loss process is going right now. I would love to see a faster loss, but I'm not willing to starve (or willing to walk when its so cold outside) so I pay the price of slower weight loss.

If you watch your trending weight loss, the downward trend I mean, you'll see that even small losses add up.

For much of December and all of January I was as anxious to see 169 as I was to see 199 when I weighed over 200. I don't know if it gets "easier" or if I will ever not wonder if I'm going to make it into the next group of 10 pounds down; but I logically know that it will happen as long as I keep on logging my food and eating at my calorie goal.

Please don't give up. You can do this!

Ellasdream

You've been given some great advice on here. Weightloss is a journey and sometimes it's good to reflect and tweak what you've been doing. Change things up and your body should respond. Don't give up!!! :-)

bwogilvie

sodakat wrote: »

Instead, take a good look at your food logging. Are you positive you are eating at a deficit. Being just a couple hundred calories off a day can mean it takes 10 or 11 days to lose a pound, instead of a week.

This is good advice. One study using doubly labeled water found that even registered dietitians underestimated their intake by around 200 calories a day, while laypeople missed twice as much.

This thread is very useful:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1

999tigger

All these questions need the same approach. You need to look at or get someone to look at the basic math of what you are doing.

Its common and covers most of the reasons why people dont lose becayse they underestimate what they are eating and overestimate what they burn. the result is that you arent at a deficit so obviously wont lose. Get someone to have a look through your diary and do some checks. better off looking at his first and then you cna go the thyroid route later especially after the former has been eliminated.

The link by bwog explains the situation in more detail.

It will probably be a combination of both.
Malibu has asked the questions are you weighing all your food on a scale and logging it?
Whats your calorie target?
Current weight?
Height?
Age?
Gow are you estimating your calorie burns?
What % of calories do you eat back?

Bo idea why man made carb free would help? Why not just look at the obvious and main culprits first?